Remains of Simon Bolivar's sisters exhumed

[naaman fletcher]

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan authorities exhumed the remains of Simon Bolivar's sisters Monday, seeking genetic clues to help them investigate President Hugo Chavez's theory that the South American independence hero may have been murdered.

Scientists and forensic experts extracted DNA samples from the bones of Juana and Maria Antonia Bolivar — the only siblings of the man known in Venezuela as "El Libertador" — after authorities opened their tombs inside a cathedral in downtown Caracas, Vice President Elias Jaua said.

"The scientists are carrying out the tests at this very moment to begin the study and later make the comparison with the samples from El Libertador," Jaua said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jZNsgvW3M8XGtCVEt4joT03m6OfQD9HU2SE80